Under the Mountain
by MeckaMecka
Summary: One day, the barrier to the outside world sealed them in. An entire civilization living beneath a mountain, cut from the outside world. You are born in the Underground, and then you die in the Underground. (Wait, what game was this supposed to be again?)
1. Death(claw) Mountain

DISCLAIMER- only gonna say it once -

Do not own. Additional information is given at the bottom. Canon breaks are 'usually' explained there as well, corresponding with the numbers of * there are.

Any questions you have _should_ be answered in following chapters, but it will sometimes be difficult keeping the individual plot-things straight. Sometimes cannon needs to be twisted a little, so expect a little of that.

Also, no beta. Raise any editing issues in the comments and I'll fix it.

 _Enjoy~_

* * *

-0-0-0-

*DIAL CLICK*

* _static fading into upbeat music*_

 _Long ago, two races ruled over Earth: HUMANS -KRTZ-_

 _One day, WAR broke out between the two races._

 _After a long battle, they were victorious._

 _They sealed the -KRTZ- underground with a -KRTZ-_

 _-garbled noise-_

*radio static*

-0-0-0-

Rin frowned, pushing up her sweaty goggles to stare at the rolling static of her Pip-Boy screen. Just when she found a station that broadcasted something other than some 'classic' station, her Pip-Boy glitches. All 'Boys flickered from time to time - no matter the level of care and maintenance, they were old machines. Glitches like this have occurred from time to time, but this static felt... different.

(She firmly ignored the ache in her chest the words on the radio caused.)

Regardless of 'feelings', whatever was wrong with it would have to wait until there was time. The open roads of the Wasteland were no place to fix her precious equipment. She'd crack it open to examine the components when she could, but she needed to be in a secure location first. Fortunately, for now, there was a simple fix.

With a liberal use of percussive maintenance, the screen flickered back to normal. Turning off the radio to the sound of patriotic tin flutes, Rin adjusted her goggles and the rifle slung over her shoulder before whistling sharply.

Running up to her side from behind, her faithful companion Dogmeat chuffed happily at her. In a blue bandana, custom leather armor, and goggles, her canine companion was the only one who stayed by her side when she left Washington. Patting his head fondly, the one known as the Lone Wanderer continued down the broken asphalt road of the highway.

Meanwhile, the overhead traffic road signs were unreadable static, flickering black and white with occasional flashes of letters. The sign suddenly flickered slowly to a stop: _Ebott, XX miles._

-0-0-0-

 _*Many years later...*_

 _-_ 0-0-0-

Sitting up with a start, Rin aimed her pistol into the empty room. After several moments of aiming her gun, she lowered her weapon with a sigh. Setting the gun on the mattress, she yawned before rubbing her eyes tiredly. Shes stood up from the somewhat-clean mattress (totally clean beds were, unfortunately, a rare luxury), and stretched her back.

Suddenly, the room shook with the sound of an explosion outside. Swearing, she grabbed her gun and snuck to the window.

The empty roads of the cul-de-sac shook as the large, horned lizard beast raged. Pacing the streets, the grey-colored deathclaw suddenly picked up a car. Letting out a thundering roar, the beast threw the chunk of steel into a house, demolishing it instantly. Her Pip-Boy hummed on her wrist and identified it as a legendary. How _wonderful._

The neighborhood was at the base of a large forested mountain with an inactive satellite tower atop it. An empty house was a convenient place to sleep for the night - after clearing out the infestations of bugs and mole rats, the peaceful feeling of the valley was almost comfortable. She had intended to activate the tower before heading to the city to scavenge for ammo and caps, though, judging by the high-level deathclaw outside, she would have to rethink that plan.¹

Watching from the second story window as it circled the neighborhood, Rin grimaced as it threw a rusted chunk of metal at an empty building, destroying it completely. She needed to leave without taking on the beast outside, because she was desperately low on ammo. The rounds she had left for her rifle and handgun had no chance in hell for taking that monster down, and using the last Fat Boy round was a last-ditch measure: if it didn't kill it in one shot, it would mutate it, making it much, _much_ stronger², which would be a disaster.

The deathclaw chucked another car, roaring angrily as it collapsed another building. She decided she needed to leave immediately, or else the beast would bring the building down on top of them. Coming down the stairs, she was met by Dogmeat panting anxiously. She shushed him softly as she continued on to the back door. Grabbing the handle on the back of his armor to keep him close, she opened the door quietly and moved with him across the yard.

They ducked behind the white picket fence line right before the building behind them exploded: the deathclaw charging through, destroying the house in seconds. Sneaking along the fence line with Dogmeat, Rin ran her free hand her grenade pouch. With the these, make it into the mountain's tree line

Hearing the thundering footsteps coming close, Rin pulled the pin and threw behind her as far as she could. _Six._ Sneaking along the fence line until she was as close as possible, _five,_ she paused and started to think.

 _Four._ The tree line was at least. Which was bad.

 _Three._ The beast would _definitely_ see them running in the time it took. Even worse.

 _Two._ They would just have to run very, _very_ fast then, wouldn't they?

 _One._ The grenade detonated, attracting the raging beast's attention. It charged towards the site, ground quaking beneath its feet.

 _Go._ Rin ran for the treeline; Dogmeat needed very little encouragement to sprint beside his master. But, even at a full sprint, they were still only halfway through the tree line before she heard the deathclaw discover her.

The trees would hopefully stop him. Judging by how intent the deathclaw seemed to eat her face, however, she guessed that this was not the case. They would just have to keep ahead of it, and it would hopefully lose interest in them... probably.

-0-0-0-

 _*Mt. Ebott*_

 _-_ 0-0-0-

Coming to a stop in the shade of a tree, Rin put her hands on her knees and started to gasp for air. Catching a glimpse of the Pip-Boy screen, she groaned. She had been trying to escape that bastard for _five fucking hours._ After her initial escape, the grenade distraction method unfortunately never worked again, which left her with only one grenade and one _very pissed off_ ten-foot-tall lizard monster.

This particular deathclaw was dead set on killing her. Every time she hid, it takes her, destroying everything in its path to get to her. She needed to dodge flying trees more than once. It didn't help that the trees seemed to become incredibly thick the further up the mountain she went, to the point that it forced her to go downhill.

' _Which about describes my life right now.'_ She snorted at her own joke, causing another harsh coughing fit. As the fit subsided, she decided that she needed to keep moving - it was probably ridiculous to assume the deathclaw was still hunting her after getting away, but she would rather be safe than dead.

What she really needed to find was a way up the mountain to get to that radio tower. There had to be a path up the mountain, though she had not seen any during her escape. Her best shot was probably making her way to the base of the mountain to look there.

Looking for her dog, she found him a small distance ahead, panting tiredly on the clay of what looked like an obvious trail up the mountain. Rin looked at Dogmeat blandly, to which he thumped his tail on the ground happily. Crouching down, she rubbed his head fondly before grabbing her canteen and taking a long, _heavenly_ drink.

Cupping her hand to let Dogmeat drink for a moment, she stiffened slightly when she heard crunching footsteps and rustling from the bushes further up the path. Out of the corner of her eye, she glanced and saw a head of hair disappearing behind some tall grass. If this was what she thought it was, then she was probably in a lot of trouble - it would not be the first time she had literally, and unknowingly, stumbled into some sort of ambush. But this time, she wouldn't let them act first.

"Hey boy," she whispered softly at her dog, who looked up at her intently. She nodded slightly toward the bushes, "Fetch."

Dogmeat got to his feet in record time before sprinting at the bushes, jumping into them and knocking over whoever was there with a satisfying thump. After securing her canteen while shaking her other hand dry, she then loosely aimed her handgun and started to approach the shuffling brush.

Pushing aside the dry foliage, Rin found Dogmeat standing over a child, snuffling around their face with an occasional lick. As amusing a scene as it was, she was simply stunned. It had been a long, _long_ time she had encountered any friendly people... well, _friendly_ as in anyone who wasn't trying to kill her, at least. But a child, especially since they were in the middle of what was essentially _nowhere,_ was concerning.

With that thought in mind, she shook herself out of her stupor. Holstering her weapon, she went around the bush and snapped her fingers sharply. "Dogmeat, come!"

Her faithful companion literally _skipped_ to her side, before bounding excitedly back over to the child, knocking them over again as they attempted to sit up. She sighed, rubbing the bridge of her nose. She supposed she couldn't have expected anything else, really. Her big, strong, and dangerous dog _loved_ children.

Grabbing his armor handle, she pulled him off. Now that Dogmeat wasn't hovering over them, the kid sat up and gave her a wary look. She gave them a smile - and internally grimaced in concern. They were maybe eight or nine with a sickly-looking yellowish skin. Though the large dirty blue-and-purple striped sweater hid most of their frame from view, judging by their thin, slightly-sunken face and eyes, they were definitely starving, and probably dehydrated. This exceeded all of her medical knowledge, but she _could_ help them until they got to a doctor.

Holding Dogmeat firmly behind her (he whined pitifully and struggled), Rin crouched and offered the kid cautiously watching her a smile. The kid looked like they were about to run at the slightest hint of trouble, so she had to approach this carefully.

"Hey sorry kid, my dog here just ran away from me suddenly. Guess he was really excited to meet'cha, huh?" The kid nodded with a slight smile as they got to their feet. "I was kinda surprised to see him run of like that. He didn't hurt ya, did he?" A hesitant shake of the head. "That's good then! I'm... well, you can just call me Rin, and ya might have heard that _this_ dork's name is Dogmeat." She said fondly, shaking him lightly by his armor. "He's not _usually_ that much trouble, so I'm real sorry 'bout that. But between you and me, he's really just-" Dogmeat suddenly _pulled._

Crouching while keeping hold of a dog is, upon reflection, a _very_ bad idea³. Off-balance, Rin tipped sideways into the brambles of the bushes that the child had originally hidden behind.

Swearing under her breath, she finally stood out of the uncooperative foliage, she started to pull loose branches out from her armor as she found Dogmeat wagging his tail happily. The stood next to him, petting his neck softly. Feeling her anger melt away, Rin huffed and glared playfully at her dog. "I was going to say attention hog, but I can think of a couple of other things to call you right now. You're _really_ proud of yourself, aren't you?"

Dogmeat whuffed in agreement, making the kid laugh as Rin scowled at her rather intelligent companion. Her dog usually seemed to understand what she was saying, and followed any orders he was given given - but he was also extremely mischievous. But he also had a big weakness.

"That's fine then," Rin said with exaggerated distain as she turned away. "Just for that, I'm going to have to share my extra deer jerkey with someone else."

The canine whined pitifully as the kid giggled softly, consoling Dogmeat by petting him.

Suddenly, an angry, echoing roar shook the forest, scattering the ravens in the trees with a shower of dirty black feathers. Dogmeat was instantly on alert, standing in stoic silence as the small child hugged his neck tightly.

Rin froze in place as she started working the problem frantically in her mind. From what she could tell from her earlier run, the path she was on was probably the _only_ path that led further up the mountain. And until she got to the mountain top to check, she would just have to assume this was the only way up - and the only way down.

However, judging by the _two_ answering roars echoing from downhill that shook the earth, going up was going to be their only option.

Grabbing her rifle from off her back, Rin crouched in front of the crouched again. "We don't have much time, and we're going to need to move fast. Think you're up for a piggy back ride, kid?"

They looked surprised before nodding. Running around, they jumped and latched their small arms around her neck in a death-grip. Standing, she helped the kid adjust with a wince - they had a surprisingly strong grip. Then, she started to run, Dogmeat faithfully at her heels.

After a few minutes of running in silence, Rin cleared her throat. "So, uh anyways, I just realized I forgot to ask you your name back there. I won't be able to get away with calling ya 'kid' or 'hey, you!' forever." She joked.

She felt them giggle beforem becoming quiet. She waited a long moment, and was about to break the silence when the kid whispered their name softly. "Frisk, eh?" She said with a small smile. "I think that's a very nice name."

-0-0-0-

 _*21XX*_

-0-0-0-

They had been on the trail for a couple hours, and had been making good distance away from the encroaching monsters. At least, that was until the trail hit a dead end.

Frisk jump off her back as she came to a stop, though Rin felt it over the growing pit of icy dread her stomach had become. When they had been running the path, she noticed that the mountain had many more cliffs and sheer drops than she had expected such a mountain to have. Unfortunately, while the path had led to further up the mountain, the trail ended at a rock wall. Though there was a small cave, from what she could tell it went nowhere.

They were trapped. And they were still being hunted.

Swearing, she quickly searched her Pip-Boy for _anything_ that would help, but came up with only one option. Equipping her seldom-used mini-nuke launcher, Rin rolled her shoulders and took a deep breath _in_ and _out._ Even though it was an extremely powerful weapon, using it was like a double-edged knife. If fired wrong, users could misjudge the warhead's blast, killing the user and the target⁴.

While loading her launcher, she decided to address her temporary charge. "Alrighty then kiddo, I'm gonna tell ya what's about to happen." She looked up. "We're gonna move back-" Her throat suddenly closed.

Standing at the edge of a hole inside the cave, Frisk stood precariously close to the edge of a large hole. Initially dismissed, the small cave ended at the hole in the ground. They stood unnaturally still for a moment before starting to sway forward.

Dropping her weapon to free her hands, Rin suddenly _moved._ Running over to the hole, she slid and grabbed Frisk around their waist and pulled them into a firm hug. The kid struggled fiercely in her grip as she pushed herself away from the hole. When they were a small distance away from the hole, she stopped and held the struggling child and waited.

When Frisk stopped struggling to get out of her hold, she slowly started releasing her firm hug. Rin sighed and held them in a regular hug for a moment before releasing them completely. Grabbing their upper arm, she picked them up and placed them on their feet before spinning them around (so they could no longer see the hole). Grabbing their shoulders, she shook them firmly.

"What the hell, kid? _!"_ Frisk's glassy eyes blinked up at her for a moment before they shook their head. Rubbing at their eyes, they offered a quiet apology. Rin frowned in concern and hugged them.

Dogmeat growled angrily from the mouth of the cave, startling both of them. She cursed - _out of time._ Feeling the approaching footsteps, Rin stood and whistled for Dogmeat who quickly jogged over. Ushering him next to Frisk, she had them place a hand on his back handle.

She gave them a tight smile at their confused look. "Whatever happens, just... keep him right behind me, ok?" They nodded, and she ruffled their hair. Grabbing the launcher, Rin placed herself between her two charges and the cave entrance.

Their tension as the earthquake-like footsteps outside stopped suddenly. Aiming the nuke launcher at the entrance, Rin cautiously moved the group a couple steps backwards (unfortunately _towards_ the hole). After a couple moments of silence, long fingers snaked around the rock and curved around the mouth of the cave. Rin held her breath as the deathclaw who had started the chase started to slowly round the corner as well

Without warning, the wall of rock on the either side of the natural doorway exploded inwards. Two deathclaws barreled through the solid rock, running straight towards the small group.

The next moments felt as if they were in slow motion.

Rin re-aimed the launcher even as the ground beneath them started to crack with the force of the deathclaws' steps. As she pulled the trigger, she felt Frisk grab her jumpsuit and _pull backwards._ Off-balance, launcher lifted as it fired. Rin watched in the same horrified awe one has as watching a train wreck - she couldn't tear her eyes away even as she felt her body begin to fall.

The nuclear warhead sailed past its targets - and instead hit the ceiling. The sharp crack of the rock was audible above the sound of the blast.

The shockwave approached and knocked her into the inky blackness of unconsciousness even as the Deathclaws bellowed angrily.

-0-0-

 _*Ancient legends say that those who climb the mountain never return.*_

-0-0-0-

* * *

1-inspired-inspired by an actual Fallout event I experienced. Cleared out a neighborhood, went to sleep on second floor, and boom- hardass deathclaw outside, and I woke to the shaking the ground of angry deathclaw... who threw several cars when I first tried to run. I _eventually_ killed him with literally all of my grenades, rarely-used explosives, and bullets I had on me, but it was mostly out of spite at that point.

2-honestly, if this was true, people would have to stop killing Deathclaws that way. Personally, if i see a Big Boi Deathclaw like that charging at me, i just distance myself, pull out my Fat Man launcher, aim, *wa-funk*, BIG BOOM, dead. So, it's a bit of a headcannon. Besides, legendary enemies in 4 always 'mutated' if not killed in the first couple shots (explained in my AN).

3-a _very_ bad idea. I can still feel the almost-rugburn the cement gave me as i held onto my dog's collar. He had something in his mouth, I grabbed his collar, crouched to grab it, and continued to hold onto him as i looked at it. And when he tried to run around me to get to whatever-it-was, i fell rather hard. An unfortunate experience, but... Ehh... Knowing is half the battle i guess? Not going to do that again.

4-yea, nuke launchers are always hard to use, mostly from almost always killing myself by using them. First time it did, I kinda went 'well duck you too!' and sold them afterward for awhile. I stopped eventually when I realized how useful they were, but they are frustrating sometimes.

* * *

AN:

The Wanderer is based on a mixed setting survivalist mode: needs to sleep, eat, and drink, altered carry weight, and a similar repair system from 3, though Other Things are still being internally debated and decided later. The whole Fallout element will be a mix of 3 and 4, if only because I liked some things they did in 4 than in 3 and vice versa. Basically, a pretty reasonable survivor who travels lightly because of [REDACTED]... reasons.

And yes, she had a mini nuke launcher. If you want it justified, then A) see 2 above, and B) you CANNOT tell me that you have never done the same thing. I've kept a launcher and one or two nukes-and sometimes fast travel to get more of a particularly insane boss/enemies are absolutely flippin destroying me. Stated before, it's always a last-resort type of thing, and has honestly saved my sanity when i get situations such as the "oh shit, I've walked straight into a boss fight and he's super strong" or "I've been destroyed by these (insert enemy/enemies here) for literally an entire hour and I'm going insane".

The incredibly motivated to kill you Deathclaws featured here are also inspired by New Vegas, in which I, the low-leveled and incredibly unlucky bastard, literally stumbled into _two (_ when another came out from behind a pipe to _became three)_ and, naturally, quickly died. Quicksave then brutally screwed me over by saving extremely close. In the end, only one saw me and ended up chasing me. I saw a little broken shack in the middle of nowhere with an Interior, so I entered it to escape. It was actually pretty well stocked, so i went around and started to loot.

Then I heard the door open. Guess who followed me in and saw me immediately. After that death (because i stood zero chance in my tiny gladiator ring), I loaded inside the building and immediately prepped it for a fight - aka minefield galore. And then, of course, that fucker never came in that time - because deathclaws don't use doors, except apparently when they do.

Frisk will be kept gender neutral, mostly because I'm just not gonna head into that rabbit hole. On that note, i am also looking for some gender neutral descriptive terms for them, because i can't keep using child and kid every time. It's boring.

Everything should become pretty clear after awhile, too. Though i haven't quite decided the level of Awareness that they have on [REDACTED], though I believe that [REDACTED] and [REDACTED]- *FNAF 2 static*

 _...*cough*_

Ah right. The _rules._ Sorry, but such spoilers are against my programming, and Reactions are harmful to my systems! But do not worry, because my normal hueman functions well be online shortly.

Ah speaking of!

ADDITIONAL DISCLAIMER:

And to all those who look at odd crossovers and shake their heads - what _ever!_ I like odd crossovers, so long as they're done well. I'll try to keep it pretty realistic and true to form, though you really cannot keep everyone happy if you want to be sane. They're two different types of games fer fucks sake, not even the same graphics.


	2. Flower Power

I apologize for taking so long to write this! I find it a bit difficult to write casual dialogue, so sorry if anything seems stilted. My muse was more interested in later chapters because this one is so slow in terms of plot. Also, None of this is pre-written, and I upload when I feel satisfied with the chapter.

But, now that this one's over, we'll be able to get to the good stuff now. Hopefully my muse will be more interested now this plot filler is over with.

Disclaimers previously stated, and any additional warnings will be given as the story progresses

Such as: DISCLAIMER-

There will be use of Fallout drugs. I do not condone drug use, though Fallout drugs ARE NOT REAL. Any drug descriptions are purely fictional (AKA made up), and do NOT work as described in the real world. Don't do it. I didn't want to have to state the obvious, but some people are going to complain anyways.

I actually don't know who Elijah is, since I only started playing Fallout after New Vegas and 3, but I saw this quote on the TV Tropes page for 2, and I knew it was perfect.

 _Enjoy!_

-0-0-0-

 _*_ _That thing on your wrist - it's a convenience. It tells you where to go, what to do, dulls your brain. It may have helped you find the Sierra Madre broadcast, but it's just as much a crutch today as it was in the Old World._ _*_

Elijah, Fallout 2

~ = _F_ = ~

Rin awoke coughing, her whole body flaring in blinding pain. Rolling onto her side, she propped herself up with an arm as she coughed into the ground, struggling to breathe. Dragging her free hand over to her equipment, she rooted around awkwardly until she finally grabbed hold of a Stimpack. Her vision was starting to fade when she finally managed to stab it into her thigh. The burning itch in her lungs faded into a warm, tingling numbness as it worked through her system.¹

When the coughs finally eased, the numbness from the Stimpack had faded. Wheezing, she wiped her mouth with the back of her jumpsuit sleeve, grimacing when the fabric came away stained red. Something warm and soft trailed across her face, followed by a familiar whine. Rin reached up and scratched Dogmeat's ear reassuringly.

Sitting up, Rin hissed as pain seared through her ribs. Injecting a med-X (a pain killer) into her thigh, she waited for the last painful spasms to ease before powering on her Pip-Boy. The screen flickered and rolled as something buzzed like a florescent bulb inside it, but thankfully was fixed with a firm tap to the side.

Scanning through her Status, she grimaced when her torso registered as _CRIPPLED._ She didn't need to check her Inventory to know that she had no equipment to deal with it. While the penalty to her Endurance would be a pain in the ass to deal, she would have to live with it until she found a medic.

She quickly checked her Pip-Boy map and snorted. This cave system is called 'The Underground'? _Ah, probably_ _wouldn't have noticed the mountain above me if it wasn't pointed out_. Unfortunately, since they couldn't get out the way they came, they would just have to keep following the caves until they reached the exit. (And if there wasn't, Rin would just have to get creative with her supplies and scavenged items to _make one)._

Powering down her Pip-Boy, she scanned the room. It was a small cave from what Rin could see of the light streaming from the doorway. Large boulders and mounds of rock debris littered the floor, covering the carpet of yellow flowers beneath her feet in a layer of brown earth. A path of bright yellow flowers trailed away from her towards the cave exit - _Frisk_. They must have awoken before her and moved on to the next room.

Carefully stepping over the small patch of bloodied flowers at her feet, she walked towards the next room. _Must have collapsed the cave above us,_ Rin thought as she glanced upwards at the darkened ceiling. _Judging by the current lack of instant dismemberment, the Deathclaws either died in the explosion (which was unlikely, as they were high level; It'd take more than one hit to kill them at least), or they died in the collapse. We'll need to be careful._

She gave a low whistle, and Dogmeat trotted up next to her. With a small flick of her wrist, he sprinted forward to scout out the next room. He paused at the doorway and suddenly snarled and took off. She swore and sprinted after him. Despite what his name might imply, her dog was a remarkably gentle and happy. Whenever he reacted like _that_ , there was trouble.

Rin sprinted through the doorway and stumbled. Frisk held the handle on her dog's back and struggled to pull him away as he snarled into the darkness at the corner of the room. But he could adequately protect himself, so she wasn't too concerned about him for the moment.

"Frisk!" The kid jolted in surprise and looked at her with wide eyes. Taking advantage of the distraction, Dogmeat lunged forwards, pulling the kid to the ground as he sprinted off into the darkness.

Rin slid to a stop next to Frisk. Hooking her hands under their armpits, she lifted them to their feet. "Are you ok?" she asked as she dusted them off and looked them over for injuries. "Do you have a headache? Does it hurt to breathe? How many fingers-"

" _I'm_ _the one_ _being mauled_!" An angry voice interrupted. She tensed, putting a hand on her gun as she scanned the room - which was still empty, except for Dogmeat still running around the room barking.

"Hello?" she called out cautiously. Rin hadn't bothered checking on Dogmeat's target, since she both trusted him to handle the situation for the moment, and knew that she would be able to hear his distress if his target overwhelmed him. Even if the Rin looked empty, he was indicating enemies were nearby. _Where was-?_

The ground in front of the humans rumbled before a yellow flower erupted from the ground. _(Eh?)_

The flower _(what)_ grinned _(WHAT)_ up at them. "Howdy!" It greeted **_(WHAT)_** cheerfully. "I'm Flowey! Flowey the - gah!" It sucked into the ground as Dogmeat pounced upon the spot. He barked angrily and pawed at the ground the flower disappeared into. The flower popped up a few feet away and flared its petals angrily. "Just call off your psycho dog already!"

Rin grabbed the handle on Dogmeat's back before he could sprint off again, giving a signal for him to stop. To her immense surprise, he snarled and tried to wrestle himself away. In all the time they've spent together, he had never disobeyed a direct command before. With a quick reprimand, he sat protectively at his master's feet, lips pulled back from his teeth in an _almost_ silent snarl, glaring at the flower.

The flower was panting, face shadowed beneath its tattered and dirty petals. There was something distinctly off-putting about the flower, and Dogmeat's reaction to him amplified it. If he distrusted the flower, then she'd play it safe and try to move on quickly.

"Thanks _pal_." The flower said with a smile that stretched its entire face. "I'm FLOWEY the FLOWER! You're _both_ new here, aren'tcha?"

 _No shit,_ Rin thought snidely. _Just humor him for now for more information_. "So where exactly _is_ here?"

"Why, the UNDERGROUND of course! Golly, you _both_ must be so confused! _Someone_ ought to teach you both _how_ _things_ _work_ _down here_ , and, well, I guess little old _me_ will have to do! You both ready? Here we go!"

Rin gasped in surprise when a glowing heart emerged _from her chest_. The heart radiated the same familiar green light of her Pip-Boy as it hovered innocently in midair. Reaching out, she lightly brushed the heart with her fingertips. It was about the size of a baseball, and it felt... warm, like the first feeling of the sun on her skin. She smiled in remembrance, and the heart seemed to glow brighter.

"See that heart? That is your SOUL, the very culmination of your being!"

"Wait, this little thing is supposed to be my "eternal soul"? From the things I've read, I always imagined a soul to be more like... a hypothetical or a metaphor." She glanced at the heart cupped in her hand. "And, uh, maybe _less green?_ " she muttered quietly.

"It's *magic*, of course!" Flowey said with a petals flaring like jazz hands. "The colors are a manifestation of your strongest trait! The short one's red, which is DETERMINATION! Your SOUL is green, which stands for KINDNESS...?"

Ignoring the flower, who looked to be lost in thought, she at the heart... her _soul_. If she were to describe herself as... Well, _kind_ wouldn't exactly register as a top priority. She ran her thumb over it thoughtfully, and its surface moved like ripples in a pond.

"Now, your SOUL starts off weak, but can grow strong if you gain a lot of LV. What's LV stand for? Why, LOVE, of course!"

She snorted, and coughed to disguise her laughter. _Oh, that's actually_ _adorable._ _Overpower your enemies with the power of love! Mr. Deathclaw just needs a hug!_

"Sorry, I think my allergies are starting to act up." She fought to keep the grin off her face as she apologized to the flower. "Not used to all the, ahh, pollen, I guess. So, uh, you were saying?"

"It's alright!" Flowey replied after a _suspiciously_ long moment of silence. "We were just getting to the important part! You see, it's actually just an acronym. **LOVE** stands for a **L** evels **O** f **V** iolenc **E,** a person's ability to kill others. And **you**... you're not just a murderer. You're a _demon."_

Frisk, who had been quietly examining their red soul, sharply glanced at her. Their eyebrows furrowed as if they could see into your soul for the answers (Hell, that's probably what they were trying to do. It was _supposedly_ right there, after all).

"Ya know, you're not the first one to call me that," Rin said with a wry smirk as she slowly slid her hand to her handgun. "But, here's the thing _buddy._ Anytime I've been told that, they all tried to do the same thing you're doing now. If you think you're gonna be the last, well... You'd be _dead_ _wrong_."

Flowers face twisted with rage, and several grenade-sized white objects appeared behind the flower and rocketed towards them. Rin quickly drew her gun and clicked a dial on her Pip-Boy. Time seemed to slow to a crawl as the bullets stopped in midair, and Flowey's laugh became slow and distorted as **V.A.T.S.** ( **V** ault-Tec **A** ssisted **T** argeting **S** ystem) activated.

The system overlay marked the flower with a skull next to his name - in other words, _screwed_ _again._ With no ammo, the fight would be impossible trying to keep Frisk alive. When all else fails... onto Plan B.

Cycling through targets, Rin turned her attention to the projectiles (that - for some reason - VATS identified as 'friendliness pellets' when they were obviously anything but _friendly_ ) and aimed at the ones closest to the door. If she could make an opening in the wall of projectiles, they could try to make a break for it and escape. And then, they would just have to hide and evade until the flower lost interest (or just run, but she was really tired of that).

Firing, she grabbed Frisk and dragged Frisk towards the room's exit, dodging the remaining 'pellets' as they rocketed past. The fleeing humans suddenly slammed into something solid. Rin stumbled backwards, barely managing to stay upright as Frisk tripped onto the ground beside her. Recovering quickly, she reached up and ran a hand over the invisible wall, swearing.

"YOU **IDIOT**!" Flowey's body started to melt and _twist_ as he let out another distorted laugh. "Did you **REALLY** think I was just going to let you just walk away?!" He summoned more of the white bullets that rocked towards them. She held him off for a few more moments as she destroyed the pellets.

Then the clip ran dry with a click.

Jumping to the side to avoid one projectile, she walked right into another one's path. She cried out as it tore through the flesh of her upper arm, making her drop the gun. Dogmeat suddenly sprinted at the evil flower, intent on maiming it. Vines erupted out of the earth and slammed into his side. He flew the air and hit the invisible barrier _hard_ , and he crumpled in a heap.

More vines spring from the floor, wrapping around the handle before suddenly pulling it into the ground. As more vines started to exploded from the ground around her, Rin pulled out a serrated machete off her belt. Hacking at the attacking vines, she fought desperately to move.

Her head snapped up when she heard a shrill scream, and she felt her breath leave her. Vines were covering Frisk's legs and arms, smothering their scream as they grew over their face.

The flower took advantage of her distraction to launch another attack. One shot forward like a spear, burrowing through her hand holding the machete, forcing her to drop it. The vine _pulled,_ dragging her to her knees as her hand sunk into the ground. Something in her wrist _cracked,_ and her vision danced with spots from the pain.

Vines wrapped around her as Flowey appeared, or at least a disturbing impressionistic image of him. its face had an oily-looking texture that bubbled and flowed together even as its canvas smiled. "You... you're the answer to EvErYtHiNg." It whispered in many voices. "With your **SOUL,** I will _finally_ become a **GOD."**

As he started to tighten the vines around her body, Flowey wrapped more vines around the glittering green heart. Though its body liquifying, the flower leaned further into Rin's face with a crazed grin. "Because of **yOu** ," it whispered in a dark reverence, "we can finally destroy **everything** in this _wretched_ world." The vines on what the flower her soul started to _pull._ Something inside of her started to constrict and _burn_ in agonizing _pain._ The flower _laughed_ and Rin screamed.

Suddenly, a fireball engulfed the vines surrounding the heart, burning the foliage away from the older human. As she bonelessly collapsed to the ground, Flowey turned and snarled " **WHAT** -". Fire engulfed the flower. It screamed and writhed in pain as it burned before it was suddenly sucked into the ground².

The chamber was probably deathly silent, but Rin couldn't hear it over the wet and crackly sound of her lungs struggled to breathe. Her while body ached and burned, and she could feel her sluggish heart beat behind her eyes slowing. She was probably about to die, though she tried not to think about that.

"I'm so sorry." She whispered out to hands pressing down against her side. "I ... next time."

OOOO

Rin grogily blinked back sleep. There was a warm body comfortably tucked into her side, and judging by the quiet snores in her ear, they were asleep.

The warm body snuggled next to her stopped snoring and shifted. She closed her eyes and feigned sleep. The bed shifted, and she felt the heat leave her side. Suddenly, something warm and moist dragged across her face, followed by a familiar whine. Rin opened her eyes and tiredly smiled at the frantic dog. She gently shushed him a few consoling pats gave before sitting up and lifting her arm to check her Pip-

She jumped when her fingers brushed against sensitive skin. There was a large area of pale, atrophied flesh starting from her wrist and ending a little more than halfway to her elbow.

The area had been consistently covered since the day she turned 10 years old. It couldn't just be... _gone!_ Throughout all of her adventures in the wastelands, every difficulty and triumph, it had been right there on her wrist. It had been one of the only things she could actually allow herself to consistently rely on.

Fear and disbelief lanced through her as fingers delicately traced over the impressions on her skin from the cuff. Then _fury._ Every pulse in her veins was a call for _vengeance_. A campaign of _fire_ and _bloodshed, damn the consequences! -_

Rin closed her eyes and took several deep breaths to calm herself. _This situation could be an innocent misunderstanding_ , she reminded herself. _They are at least somewhat friendly, or else they wouldn't have let me live._ Her fingers ghosted over the wound that flower bastard made to force her to drop her handgun. There was no indication that the flower stabbed it in the first place. _They wouldn't have healed me, either_. _A civilian mistake_. _It was probably_ _just left with... the rest of my guns and gear. Well shit._

She glanced around the room. It had a basic single-room domestic unit furniture set-up: writing desk and chair, clothes storage, bed, and empty storage shelves. However, the bed was simply _massive_ ³. Her feet dangled a couple inches off the floor, and the mattress made her feel like a child again. It wasn't meant to house someone _remotely_ human-sized.

Whoever lived here was at least the size of a super mutant.

Silently sliding of the bed, she glanced down at the clothes she was dressed in. The purple shirt hung loosely off her shoulders and brushed against her knees. It was a very smooth material that warmed beneath her touch. There was an unfamiliar crest neatly embroidered on the front. _A new faction, perhaps? But this is too..._ nice _to be part of a uniform. It doesn't seem very protective either. Pre-war?_

Well, her gear wasn't going to find itself. She searched through the room's containers while Dogmeat stood guard at the door. The wardrobe was empty except for a few large shirts (which seemed to be _even larger_ than the shirt she was wearing!). Similarly, the desk was also empty except for some loose pages of fancy letterhead with a flower motif⁴.

The room was too impersonal for someone to be actively living in it, and everything was coated in a thick layer of dust. It had probably been abandoned for a long time. But, it meant the room was empty of anything useful, so she was no closer to actually finding her things, so she decided to move on.

The bedroom door creaked loudly when it was opened, and Rin winced. _Well, there goes the stealth option, because someone must've heard that_. She listened for any sort of movement from further inside in response. _Maybe not_. _Don't hear anything so far. Maybe they were out of earshot_?

"Her" bedroom was at the end of a bright, warm hallway with two other rooms to her right. She didn't bother to close the door behind her as she ventured out, in case the house's resident happened to wander into earshot. A piece of paper on a small desk next to the door caught her eye as she left, which read 'room under renovation'. The note felt like old paper, and the lettering was faded.

She headed for the first door, which was blessedly silent as she pushed it open. This bedroom had a similar setup to the first, but was clearly lived in. There were four living plants in pots that were well taken care of, and a diary was laying open on the writing desk. But she also noticed the shelves. It was packed, top to bottom with mint-condition books. Rin scanned over the titles on the spines.

Unfortunately, most books seemed to just be fiction. Most of the titles were about 'magic' and 'spells', and a couple seemed to be romance novels. A few seemed to be either religious texts or some kind of existential book about souls.

 _Actually, since the flower said that heart was a soul, they might have some more accurate information than what that weed gave me_... She shook her head. _I can look them over later - after I make sure the place is empty._

Briefly looking over the diary ( _nothing personal, just jokes_ ), she left the room and continued down the hallway. The last room was a child's bedroom. There were a few plush toys between the small, neatly-made bed and the wall. At the foot of the bed there was a couple toys that weren't really all that interesting. But there was something eerie about the room that made her anxious to leave.

There was a box filled with pairs of small shoes against a wall, all were in different sizes. The clothes in the wardrobe were all meticulously sorted so the smaller clothes were on the left, and the larger ones on the right. The books in the shelf ranged from spelling books to large sets of novels. And all of it was in like-new condition.

But there was nothing personalized in the room, and there was absolutely _nothing_ out of place. Empty picture frames hung on the wall, and the toys looked untouched. The whole thing felt too sterile for the warm presence it tried to emulate.

 _No child lives here, yet it's all set up for one to stay, regardless of their age..._ Rin shuddered and turned off the light, closing the door behind her. _I'm getting a slight_ _Hansel and Gretel vibe here._ _Let's just find the witch before she can enjoy the appetizer._

The hallway opened up into a room with a door to the left, stairs down to her right, and what looked to be a dining room straight ahead. Judging by the windows beside the door, the left was probably an exit outside. The view was darkened, which either it was nighttime... or she was still underground. But this had to be a pre-war constructed house; no one built structures like this anymore. If someone was building houses underground in some sort of strange vault attempt, surely there would have been some ad billboard somewhere along the road?

(Not to mention it would have been _immediately_ bought up into Vault-Tec's monopoly on the market the second they got wind of a cave system under a mountain.)

She could leave the house now to go outside in search for answers, but she needed to search the house thoroughly. Hell, they could just be inside. That meant no room left unsearched, lest she needed to backtrack. So, with that in mind, Rin continued forward to clear the current level before she'd consider the next step.

The large table she had seen from the hallway was tall and went up to her elbow. It had three chairs, one was normal sized (though taller to reach above The table. It even had a step on the right side for assistance), while the other two were much larger in comparison, like two regular chairs were scaled up in size.

 _It has to be one if those 'enlightened' super mutants like Uncle Leo, right_? Rin mused as she eyed the large lazy boy chair sitting next to a fireplace. Like everything else in the house, it seemed larger than normal as well. _Everything's built to about his scale, and there's no meat globs either._

She walked over to the fire-tending tools next to the bookcase and picked up the poker. The heavy metal rod was also a cumbersome SLOW weapon, and she didn't really have the Strength to wield melee weapons effectively. It also wouldn't have any damage bonus since the pointy bits had been blunted, but any weapon, _any_ way to defend herself, was better than no weapon at all.

The adjoining room was a fairly standard and clean kitchen. Walking over to the sink, she turned on the water and examined it carefully. The water seemed to run clear, so it would probably be safe to drink. But there was no way to tell how irradiated the water would be, and she didn't have a method to check her exposure level anymore.

Shrugging, she cupped her hands and drank. She'd get her supplies back eventually one way or the other to take care of any I'll effects. Besides, some hair-like sink growth wasn't even the strangest thing she'd ever seen before, even if it made her briefly question if, in fact, it was a mutated super fungus (Well, she would _probably_ be fine. _Maybe.)._

She dried her hands on the borrowed tunic before she started searching the cabinets and drawers. Usually, kitchens would have certain implements (be it knives, meat tenderizer, etc) that would make a fast - preferably sharp - weapon.

But this kitchen didn't have any cutlery besides the deliberately blunted spoons and forks. _Where are the knives? Whoever lives here would need then to cook with. Are they hidden somewhere, perhaps on top of the cabinets or fridge?_

Suddenly, a door creaked further inside the house. Rin silently closed the drawers she had been searching and the blunted poker.

Looks like it was time for answers.

OOOO

~= End of Chapter notes =~

1-Stimpacks are never really described beyond "stab yourself and you'll heal", so I did my best. I might go further into the Fallout drug specifics later, but my best guess is I won't go to far into it until the inevitable (and obligatory) "Science Time with Alphys" at the very least.

2- Flowey may have flown off like Team Rocket in canon, but he also wasn't using his vine attack. Since he'd be more attached into the ground, it would burn him until he smothered out by escaping into the dirt. Because he's manipulating his root system, and it's not really the thing keeping him alive like other plants, he could easily keep the roots shallow enough to fly off with a single hit.

3- I scaled up Asgore's bedroom furniture to meet canon heights, and omg he is cannonically like nine feet tall. (super mutants are around 7-10 feet tall for). All of his furniture would need to be at least a couple of feet bigger to fit him more comfortably. The bed itself is almost a perfect square, so, some quick math later, his bed is a minimum of 108×108 inches if he had no leg room to stretch. That's *quick Google* The size of a mattress called the Alaskan King, which can comfortably fit four people on it. I'm not sure if that height figures in his horns, so it could need to be EVEN BIGGER to fit him comfortably. If you don't feel like a child laying on that super-sized sucker, I honestly don't know what will.

+Also, Toriel also comes in at around 8 foot 4, so that chairiel of hers has to be **big** to fit her as well as its shown to. Are there monster carpenters and craftsmen who made these things? Because there is zero chance that a human with the dimensions they need dumping entire sets of gigantic clothes, furniture, etc where it would actually wash into the underground.

4-Headcanon that Asgore would _love_ having his personal letterhead to have flowers on them. He could have different flowers mean different urgency levels, or be gooey romantic. Side note: He'd also be _so_ into the language of flowers. Like, so into it that he would grow the flowers to send them out. Eventually the scientists made the echo flowers because "really, Asgore, those flowers have been piling up in my office _please stop"._ If you don't like that headcanon **fite me**

~ = o = ~

A.N.

I'm not really sure how much I'm going into the backstories, but I'll try to find some pretty good, relevant, and suspiciously accurate quotes from all the games. If anyone finds some, I'm all ears, because I'll run out eventually. And even some are a gonna be a bit of a stretch, I'll tell ya that right now. Maybe book quotes and from other games, I don't know.

There's already a lot of generalized ideas for how this is going to play out, so please don't be offended if I don't use your favorite moment, follower, creature, mission, etc. On The other hand, maybe comment and I'll find a way to write it in.

I don't really have specific SPECIAL stats right now, but if I do create them, I might do it for at least Rin. Like, I have a basic idea of what skills and stuff she has, but not the actual stats that will allow for those skills. Little confused, tbh...

Before Anyone Asks: yes, I _know_ that if Rin was hurt, then both dog and child would also be injured. I was debating how I would actually write this in the mix of themes in a satisfying way because it's really hard. So ssh... strange plot holes will be covered further in the story. If you think there's a major one that I've missed, PM me because I'm more likely to see out in time to actually fix it before going further, and is less likely to spoil my expanding outline.

Dunno for sure yet how some stuff is going to go, but let's not think about it that hard yet!

I was actually thinking of using the "Note from Dad" for the quote because that for pretty well too, but I think I might use that later. And scary birthday poem that made me put my game down and think about my life... and be a little bit terrified of living in a vault.

-0-0-0-

Deleted Screens / OMAKE

"You want some LOVE, don't -*plink*- OW! HOW DARE YOU -*plink*- HEY -*plink*- STOP THAT NOW!"

Rin lowered her BB gun and gave the angry yellow flower (honestly, the fact that his petals were flaring like a cat was adorable) a confused look. "But I wanted to share the LOVE too. Don't you want some of _my_ little white friendliness pellets? I just want to share the LOVE!"

Floating invisible besides a giggling Frisk, Chara pinched the bridge of their nose sighed in irritation.

oooOOOooo

 _The realistic gamer in a situation like this. Or, how the story would be much less interesting if I wrote It the way I actually play Fallout._

"Howdy! I'm Fl-" Pa- _FWOOF!_

Rin lowered her flamethrower as the screaming flower disappeared, watching the grass burn away. The second she entered the room, the flowers name appeared in VATS as enemy-red. This marked enemies who wouldn't hesitate to attack, and she wouldn't let him distract her with some kind of small talk.

Whistling sharply, Dogmeat excitedly ran up her from the other room as Frisk hesitantly followed behind.

"Is... Is he dead?" Frisk asked nervously, glancing at the burning grass.

Rin looked up from reloading her weapons with a pensive frown. "Ya know... He did disappear before his health hit zero, and I got no EXP from him, so... No, probably not. You don't have to worry, though. This flamethrower was built to cripple its targets, so if he's going to continue to be a problem, I just made sure that he won't be much of one."

Frisk shuddered at the blunt answer, but quickly followed Rin as she left the room. Chara scowled. A knife may have been cool, but a flamethrower... Now THAT would have been the better choice. Turning monsters directly into dust without all the hassle of them having to die first. _Why_ _didn't_ **I** _think of that_?!


End file.
